multiprincipal

Multiprincipal denotes a governance or contractual arrangement in which more than one principal holds rights to a resource or outcome and may appoint agents to act on their behalf. The term is used across fields such as business organization, public administration, and research management to describe systems where control and benefits are distributed among several principals rather than centralized in a single owner.

Common contexts include joint ventures and consortiums where several organizations pool resources; investment structures like funds operated for multiple beneficiaries; research programs with several principal investigators and funders; and public or nonprofit partnerships where multiple stakeholders have decision rights.

Mechanisms to govern multiprincipal arrangements include formal governance bodies with representative voting, contracts specifying duties and fiduciary obligations to all principals, oversight and reporting requirements, conflict-resolution and escalation procedures, and incentive structures that align diverse interests.

Challenges include incentive misalignment, coordination costs, information sharing and hold-up risks, and potential delays from consensus processes. Benefits can include diversified expertise, increased legitimacy, risk sharing, access to broader resources, and resilience through shared accountability.

See also: principal-agent problem; governance; joint venture; consortium; stakeholder theory; fiduciary duty.